Tigers win fourth straight, hand Rangers seventh straight loss

DETROIT (AP) -- Magglio Ordonez and the Detroit Tigers are starting to hit the way they hoped. Staying healthy, that's the tricky part.

Ordonez hit two of the Tigers' five home runs Thursday and Detroit finished off a convincing three-game sweep with an 8-2 win over the Texas Rangers.

The Tigers outscored Texas 37-10 in the series and have won four in a row overall. Texas has lost seven straight.

"We knew this was going to be a good lineup," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "Now we're getting some big hits from the top of the order, and we're also getting a lot from the bottom guys. That's what happens -- hitting gets contagious."

Ordonez isn't surprised that the Tigers offense has come alive.

"It was just a matter of time," he said. "Now we'll get into our momentum -- our rhythm. We're going to start winning."

Leyland, though, faces yet another injury shuffle after left fielder Jacque Jones bruised his knee when he bumped into the fence in the fourth inning. Jones joined Carlos Guillen (knee) and Gary Sheffield (shoulder) on the bench.

Jones said that he didn't expect to miss much time, but Guillen was having trouble walking around the clubhouse after fouling a pitch off his knee the day before.

"I don't think there's any chance for tomorrow," said Guillen, who is scheduled to move to third base. "I don't know after that."

The Rangers have lost 12 of 14. Thursday's loss ended a nine-game road trip.

"It will be good to go home and see if we can get something going," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "Detroit has a great lineup, and if you give them an opportunity, someone's going to take it."

For the second day in a row, Detroit's hitting was enough to overcome a bad outing by a key pitcher. After Kenny Rogers only lasted 3 1/3 innings in a 19-6 win, Jeremy Bonderman needed 111 pitchers to get through 4 1/3 innings.

Bonderman only allowed two hits but hit a batter and walked a career-worst seven.

"I was joking with Kenny that he and Bondo were taking years off my life," Leyland said.

Zach Miner, though, followed with 3 1/3 hitless innings after entering the game with a 13.06 ERA.

"I felt like I owed the starters at least one game like that," he said.

Jason Jennings (0-4) allowed five runs on five hits and five walks in five innings, raising his ERA to 7.46 in five starts.

"This has been tough for us," said Jennings, who allowed both of Ordonez's homers. "I threw well for four innings, but then I made another bad pitch to Ordonez. This wasn't a good day."

Michael Young homered for Texas in the first, as did Curtis Granderson for the Tigers.

Bonderman's control problems caught up with him in the fifth. After hitting Frank Catalanotto with a pitch and allowing a two-out single to Hank Blalock, Bonderman walked Jason Botts to load the bases and then walked David Murphy to force home the tying run.

"We were trying to milk Jeremy through five, but I just couldn't wait any longer," Leyland said. "You have to manage to win the game."

Ordonez, who hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the third, made it 5-2 with a three-run homer off Jennings in the fifth. Brandon Inge and Ryan Raburn hit consecutive home runs against Kazuo Fukumori in the next inning.

Game notes
Sheffield received another cortisone shot in his shoulder on Thursday but wasn't sure when he might return to the lineup. ... The Rangers made a pair of roster moves before the game to try to bolster an overworked bullpen. They brought up Fukumori and Scott Feldman, optioned Wes Littleton to Triple-A Oklahoma and placed Kason Gabbard (back) on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 22.